Isaiah 40:22

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ¹ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ² 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ³ 

and spreads it out ⁴  like a pitched tent. ⁵ 

Isaiah 44:13

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ⁶ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ⁷ 

he scrapes ⁸  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ⁹ 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 47:14

47:14 Look, they are like straw,

which the fire burns up;

they cannot rescue themselves

from the heat ¹¹  of the flames.

There are no coals to warm them,

no firelight to enjoy. ¹² 

Isaiah 58:12

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹³ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 45:18

45:18 For this is what the Lord says,

the one who created the sky –

he is the true God, ¹⁵ 

the one who formed the earth and made it;

he established it,

he did not create it without order, ¹⁶ 

he formed it to be inhabited –

“I am the Lord, I have no peer.

Isaiah 58:13

58:13 You must ¹⁷  observe the Sabbath ¹⁸ 

rather than doing anything you please on my holy day. ¹⁹ 

You must look forward to the Sabbath ²⁰ 

and treat the Lord’s holy day with respect. ²¹ 

You must treat it with respect by refraining from your normal activities,

and by refraining from your selfish pursuits and from making business deals. ²² 

[40:22]  ¹ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ² tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ³ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ⁴ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[44:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”

[44:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”

[47:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hand,” here a metaphor for the strength or power of the flames.

[47:14]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “there is no coal [for?] their food, light to sit before it.” Some emend לַחְמָם (lakhmam, “their food”) to לְחֻמָּם (lÿkhummam, “to warm them”; see HALOT 328 s.v. חמם). This statement may allude to Isa 44:16, where idolaters are depicted warming themselves over a fire made from wood, part of which was used to form idols. The fire of divine judgment will be no such campfire; its flames will devour and destroy.

[58:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.

[45:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.

[45:18]  ²² tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.

[58:13]  ²⁶ tn Lit., “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 13-14 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in v. 13), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 14.

[58:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “if you turn from the Sabbath your feet.”

[58:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[from] doing your desires on my holy day.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supplies the preposition מִן (min) on “doing.”

[58:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and call the Sabbath a pleasure”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “a delight.”

[58:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and [call] the holy [day] of the Lord honored.” On קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy”) as indicating a time period, see BDB 872 s.v. 2.e (cf. also Neh 8:9-11).

[58:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “and you honor it [by refraining] from accomplishing your ways, from finding your desire and speaking a word.” It is unlikely that the last phrase (“speaking a word”) is a prohibition against talking on the Sabbath; instead it probably refers to making transactions or plans (see Hos 10:4). Some see here a reference to idle talk (cf. 2 Sam 19:30).